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Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi, Hashirimizu 2-12-5

神奈川県横須賀市走水 2-12-5          Google Map

11 February, 2021

走水神社 ​Hashirimizu Jinja

Nearest station: Mabori Kaigan (KK63)    Line: Keikyu Main

homepage   (Japanese)

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This is the eighteenth of my ex post facto shrine reports. I visited Hashirimizu Jinja in November 2004.

It is essentially a paean to the self sacrificing love of Ototachibana-mikoto for perhaps the most tragic of all Japan's  tragic heres, Yamato Takeru. Self-sacrificing love notwithstanding, Ototachibana plays just a small part in the  story of Yamato Takeru, the full version of which can be found here

The shrine’s home page tells us that in 110 A.D. Yamato Takeru was dispatched by his father, the then Emperor Keikō, to suppress a revolt by the Emishi people in what is now Northern Honshu. After a hazardous journey from Yamato he and his party, including his consort, Ototachibana, arrived at Hashiri-no-Mizu, now part of Yokosuka. They built a small imperial palace on the coast there and began preparing a ship to cross the Bay of Tokyo. During the process the local residents expressed deep adoration for Yamatao Takeru and Ototachibana and in return the former presented the residents with his crown.

Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi

Enshrined Kami:  

Main

Yamato Takeru-no-Mikoto   日本武尊

Ototachibana-mikoto    弟橘媛命

 

From Merged Shrines

None

In-ground Shrines:

Inari Jinja        稲荷神社

Sansha

(Yokosuka Jinja, Shinmei Jinja, Suwa Jinja)

 三社 

(須賀神社,神明社, 諏訪神社)

Betsu Miya     別宮

Sui Jinja           水神社

 

​Annual Festival:    July 19

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Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi

They then sealed it in a box shaped funerary urn made of stone, 石櫃, buried this in the ground and built what became Hashirimizu Jinja on top.   

 

The ship then set sail but quickly encountered a violent storm which showed no signs of abating, and left the ship unable to either advance or return to shore. Ototachibana quickly divined that the malevolent kami of the sea had to be placated and that the only way this could be done was for her to offer up her life. This she did, with a poem on her lips; the storm abated, allowing Yamato Takeru to successfully prosecute his mission. The stone monument bearing her death poem was erected in 1910 and  is very interesting in its own right. The calligraphy is from the hand of Princess Takeda Masako, the sixth daughter and tenth child of Emperor Meiji, and the monument was sponsored by six leading naval and military figures of the time, including four full admirals, one vice-admiral, one  lieutenant general, and one civilian, a privy councillor. Of the full admirals Tōgō Heihachirō and Nogi Marusuke are the best known.  

(Click on images to expand them)

a120.jpg
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
a123.jpg
Jinmei-sha: Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi,
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Sansha: Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi,
Inari Jinja: Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
Sansha: Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi,
Sansha: Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi,
Hashirimizu Jinja:  Kanagawa-ken, Yokosuka-shi
a126.jpg
poem
otachibana
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